OBSERVATIONS ON THE MOLE. 
The small piece of twine attached to the knot on the 
double line is then put through the hole in the middle of 
the board, and the trigger is put in on the other side of 
the board) or that in which the double iron-rings are (viz. 
the under side of it), so as to prevent the bit of twine 
from being drawn back again. The board or trap thus 
prepared is now put into the mole's track or run, and fixe4 
down by two pieces of wood eight or nine inches long, 
sharpened at one end, and having a cleek or hook at the 
other. Then a piece of a green or fresh stick three feet long, 
and about half an inch thick, is stuck into the ground by 
one end, at such a distance, as that, when bent down, the 
other may be over the middle of the trap. This is the 
spring. Holly answers very well ; but Mr Fletcher finds 
that a rod of common lilac forms the best spring, this wood 
preserving its elasticity much longer than any other. The 
doubling of the line is then put over the end of it, and so 
the trap is set. As soon as a mole comes along the track, 
and touches the trigger, the small piece of twine, which by 
means of it held down the spring, is let loose, and so the 
spring acting pulls up the brass-wire-rings attached to the 
ends of the line, and the mole is thus caught by the middle, 
and killed, being squeezed against the board. 
The grand secret of mole-catching, by the trap, is to find 
out an old run or roadway, for such the animals seem fre- 
quently to pass along. Each mole, or couple of moles about 
the time of breeding, seems or seem to have a particular track 
or district of road, below ground, which they frequent, and 
from which, at the most convenient places, they make drifts 
or runs, in pursuit of worms. An old run is often found 
along the side of a hedge, or of a walk in a garden, or of a 
box-edging, or the like. In a field, it is detected not un- 
frequenriy between two sets of hillocks. A run may often 
be discovered by thrusting into the ground any small sharp 
